Research
Tarot is ancient, but it reached its peak in the 19th century when the cards acquired symbolic meaning. Not coincidentally, the cards gained a central place at fairs and related venues of popular entertainment. Tarot sparked a dialogue between fortune tellers and visitors, balancing between seriousness and amusement. Today, Tarot is more popular than ever as a ‘storytelling device’, with new versions attracting much attention. During her fellowship, Doina Kraal will research 19th-century Tarot cards from the Allard Pierson collection and, based on this, develop a new Tarot card deck. The focus will be on the experience of the past as an embodied experience, as depicted in the various illustrations of the cards. For this research, Kraal is collaborating with artist Roger Cremers and Prof. Kurt Vanhoutte. The project will result in a unique Tarot card deck, inspired artworks, and public activities within the context of the research project Science at the Fair (University of Antwerp).
Fellow
Doina Kraal is a visual artist. As a PhD candidate at Leiden University within PhDArts (2020-2022), Kraal worked on the research project A Phenomenology of the Peepshow Box, focusing on the historical perspective of the peepshow box, or ‘rarekiek’, and its relevance to contemporary art, specifically in relation to the embodiment and sensory experience of images. Since 2022, she has been working with Roger Cremers as an artist duo. They share a passion for stories and objects with a history. Their work reactivates the sensory experience that lies dormant in archival materials, collections, and even old music, translating that experience into contemporary art.